Royal Léopold became the first Belgian side to win the men’s EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup as they produced a stunning shoot-out win over Mannheimer HC in Wettingen.
In a cagey encounter, Tom Degroote got the only goal of the first half when Igor Lockwood picked out a beautiful crossfield pass. It set him through on goal on the right board where he loaded up and shot home.
He doubled the advantage in the second half from a corner switch move as Léo hung deep for long periods and then pounced when they could.
Mannheim got a lifeline late in the third quarter when Ben Hasbach’s shot from the top of the D scrambled over the line.
And they were level midway through the final quarter from a clever corner move when Léo were left with just three defenders minding the goal.
The Belgian side survived to the shoot-out where they took the initial advantage with Degroote again scoring. Romain Henet saved twice, then, allowing Viktor Lockwood the chance to spin home the winning shoot-out.
Sanse Complutense won the bronze medal via a shoot-out too, edging out Voordaan 2-1 after normal time had ended in a thrilling 3-3 draw.
Ricardo Gallego’s brilliant baseline flick from a strong run got the ball rolling; Thomas van Battum levelled with a calm, angled finish to leave it 1-1 at half-time.
It remained that way until the final quarter when van Battum scored a stroke, quickly cancelled out by a Pablo Monterubio penalty corner. Ties Koopmans gave Voordaan the lead once more with four minutes left with a ripper of a shot from the left boards.
But Pablo Roman found the perfect angle to make it 3-3 and go to a shoot-out in which Roman and Juan Garcia slotted the crucial efforts.
Earlier in the relegation pool, HAHK Mladost produced an excellent second half showing to beat OKS SHVSM Vinnitsa 6-2. It was level at 2-2 at half-time but the Croatian side scored four without reply with Vitalii Kalinchuk – against the club from his native Ukraine – scoring four times.
That guaranteed Ukraine and Türkiye would see their 2026 representatives play in the second tier regardless of the outcome of the Gaziantep Polisgücü and Rotweiss Wettingen game.
As it was, the Turks finished strong with a 7-5 success with Müslüm Elagöz scoring six times, seeing them finish in seventh place with Rotweiss taking fifth spot.
Men’s EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup – final standings
1. Royal Léopold (Belgium)
2. Mannheimer HC (Germany)
3. Sanse Complutense (Spain)
4. MMHC Voordaan (Netherlands)
5. HC Rotweiss Wettingen (Switzerland)
6. HAHK Mladost (Croatia)
7. Gaziantep Polisgücü (Türkiye)
8. OKS-SHVSM Vinnitsa (Ukraine)
Award winners
Top scorer: Philippe Simar (Royal Léopold) – 13 goals
Best goalkeeper: Romain Henet (Royal Léopold)
Player of the tournament: Tanguy Zimmer (Royal Léopold)
Under-21 Player of the tournament: Ben Hasbach (Mannheimer HC)
